Overflow
by Cuetlaxcoyotl
Summary: verb (over·flow \ˌō-vər-ˈflō\) : to have the contents flowing over or spilling, as an overfull container : to pass from one place or part to another as if flowing from an overfull space : to be filled or supplied with in great measure. Or a fic in which Sasuke meets an AU version of himself.


This is a sidefic for Overwhelm, my SI!OC fic, but you can read it on its own. I hope you like it! :D

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 **Overflow**  
verb over·flow \ˌō-vər-ˈflō\  
: to have the contents flowing over or spilling, as an overfull container : to pass from one place or part to another as if flowing from an overfull space : to be filled or supplied with in great measure

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In which Sasuke meets an AU version of himself.

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He dreams of a younger version of himself that blames him for not being stronger, and he dreams about Than Night. He sees the bloody streets and enters his house to see that man standing over his parents' bodies, but then he almost feels something, almost a caress on his face, and almost hears _don't see_ and _come_ and he goes past his family and into the hall, and then he dreams about a house that resembles his, but can't be his.

He walks as in a trance, his body moving on his own, through a familiar way full of unfamiliar sights; the contented cat sleeping in a cushion, the flowerpots lining the walls, the books and scrolls mixed with colourful manga. He arrives to the back garden, it's his mother's garden, mostly, but it's a bit overgrown and with some potted plants that look out of place. Everything looks so lived in he almost wants to turn away and see his parents again. His body doesn't let him.

Then he sees the girl sitting in the engawa. The features on her face are so painfully familiar he immediately knows she's an Uchiha, but he doesn't know her. He can see he's about his age, he should know her.

"Hello, Sasuke," she greets as soon as he notices him standing there. "This is a surprise."

"Who are you?"

"Uhmm, let's say I'm you in an alternate reality… My name is Shizuka." He is tempted to don't believe her, but decides it doesn't matter in the end if he does, she is better that the younger him. "Why don't you sit with me while we wait?" This time his body moves when he wills it and sits and arm's length away from her.

They are quiet for a beat, but then she speaks:

"Uhmm, so he got you too."

"What?"

"Yeah, here." She covers the crook of her neck with a hand. He suddenly remembers the forest and the fight and his body moves again on his own to mirror her.

"Yes," he answers through clenched teeth.

"I know it burns," she says and he knows she isn't talking about the agonising pain radiating from the seal – right now he can't feel it, but he knows it is there-, "that he dared brand us. That the power he offers is tempting anyways. But I also know we mustn't accept."

She releases the vice like grip from her neck and slides closer to him, so their shoulders press together. He wouldn't have tolerated it if not for the fact that he has chosen to… don't disbelieve that she is him in a way.

"Those things you saw before coming here. That's him trying to break you. But I won't let him break us. We don't need him. We are strong, our team is strong. You must have realised by now the strength of our comrades. We don't need anything else."

He wants to deny it, say that they don't need anyone else to get their vengeance, that the team will only slow them… but that's not true. He's stronger with his team. And they are his, part of him even if he doesn't want it. If he accepts the power from the seal… he'll belong to the man that branded him. And she's right, it burns.

"Why I'm here?," he says instead. "How I'm talking to you?"

"Uhmm." She begins to childishly swing her feet and that brings attention to the fact that she is barefoot and he is not. He feels weirdly embarrassed of having walked with shoes inside the house, even if it is probably an imaginary version of it. "I think it's somehow because of her."

She is pointing to a woman he hadn't noticed until then, sitting a good distance away in the grass with her back towards them.

"I think she is the reason I'm not you." His companion says looking at the woman with a fond smile. It feels weird seeing a version of himself smiling like that, but it's not bad, even if it smarts a bit with some jealousy. "She and I are mostly the same these days. I didn't even notice we were separate entities until she found me in, well, you saw, and brought me here. And I don't feel that much different. I still have her memories, after all. They just feel a bit more distant and fuzzy."

He doesn't understand and it must be showing –damn it- because she stops rambling –and how weird is that- and clarifies more slowly. "She is like a past life. From a shinobi-less reality. I remembered her life after That Night."

She turns to see him carefully before continuing.

"Uhmm I suppose there are things of what she knows that I know that you should know too. And even if I'm not sure this is a good time or a good idea, I'll feel guilty if I don't let you know and who knows if we'll get another chance? So. Wanna go on a walk?"

She jumps down from the engawa still barefoot and her feet instantly get dusty. She offers him a hand and for some reason he accepts without hesitation. He slips down and she calls to the woman.

"Bye, Eli. I'll show him around. I was good to see you." The woman turns around but he can't focus on her face. The woman says something but he can just almost hear it. He sees her wave a hand cheerfully, thought.

"She wished us good luck." The girl says and they walk hand in hand to a door in the garden wall that he knows doesn't exist in reality. "I know you can't really see her or hear her. That's because one isn't supposed to see the death unless they are from your family. She and I are the same, and you and I are the same, but I suppose you and her can't be the same, so I hope this works."

They step through the door of the garden and into a dark messy bedroom. At the end of the bed there's a child about their age huddled in blankets and watching something playing on a small TV covered in stickers. Even though –or maybe because - he can't distinguish the features of her face he can tell this child is the woman from the garden.

"Pay attention," says the girl motioning with their still connected hands at the TV.

He does. And even though is a cartoon he can recognise himself and his team fighting on the bridge in the Land of Waves. He turns astonished to Shizuka.

"I told you it was an alternate reality." She says with a shrug. "This is gonna be hard, I'm warning you." On the TV he can see himself take the blow for Naruto, the child on the bed actually cries when in looks like he died. "But you'll get to see the future!"

They settle on the floor at the feet of the bed, their backs brushing the child's knees even if she doesn't seem to notice, to watch. Later they read over her shoulder.

It's such a long story.

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-Something that may or may not happen in the future in Overwhelm that was nagging me a lot because, well, I missed Sasuke.

-I managed to slip a cat in it, even if it is an imaginary one, :DDDDD. It's Old Man Gyu because we haven't see him in a while.


End file.
